I raised a glass of Dancing Duck’s brilliant DCUK again in one of my locals last week, as did many of us who use the Malt, at Aston on Trent, a quintessential village pub of the sort we cannot afford to lose.

The significance of raising a DCUK may not be immediately obvious but the fact is that our favourite tipple had not been available for a good few months, since Heineken-owned Star Pubs & Bars took over the ownership of the pub.

It’s complicated, not that it should be. When the pub was owned by Punch Taverns, there was access to the relatively extensive SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) list of beers. When Star bought a wedge of pubs from Punch, that access was denied to many licensees, despite Heineken being a major backer of SIBA.

The Malt at Aston on Trent is serving Dancing Duck Beers again.

For the Malt (and others) that suddenly meant that the best-selling beer in the pub was no longer available. We got Oakham Citra instead, which is on Heineken’s smaller approved list. Oakham Citra is a fine beer and not dissimilar to DCUK, which also uses the citra hop, but I prefer Dancing Duck’s not just because it’s local but because it’s a more subtle variation on the hoppy, citrusy pale bitter.

The solution is that the Malt’s licensee, Laura Bowler, has successfully applied for the tenancy of the pub. It’s still owned by Star but she now has more freedom to buy the beers and, crucially for her, the food that she wants and offer a more varied menu.

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Tenancy comes at a price, of course, and Laura knows she is taking a big step. But she perhaps has a better chance than most. She’s not going into this naively, nor without knowledge and experience. Born and brought up in the village, with a background of working at the pub and with the backing of her parents, Clive and Sharon, she knows what’s needed to make the Malt work.

Not that, at one time, she envisaged being a pub landlady.

“I was doing a degree in sports and exercise studies and came in to the Malt as a pot-washer while I was doing that,” she says.

Before long, she was helping with a bit of food preparation and things escalated.

“I fell in love with the place,” she says. “Soon, I was doing a cookery course alongside my degree, then I was running the kitchen. I did that for six years. I think to go into a tenancy, you have to have some experience and I’ve been behind the scenes here in the kitchen, seeing everything going on.”

It is 17 months since Laura, who is now 30, first took the licence, just in time for the village’s annual well dressing festival, at the end of June, 2017, by some distance the busiest weekend for the pub. It was straight in at the deep end. Things were going nicely and then the Punch sale to Star in November last year made things uncertain again for many licensees.

“So, I decided to go for the tenancy,” says Laura. “It’s a big decision but I just need more freedom. I’m glad they said yes. They didn’t have to, they’ve turned others down.”

She doesn’t say but the strength and detail of her business plan will have counted in her favour. We talk late morning on a weekday and there’s already plenty happening, with a meeting of a local community group in full swing in another part of the bar. Things like that are an important factor for village pubs.

Clive comes in a couple of hours in the mornings, in theory. In reality, he’s there much more, as is his wife.

“He can’t help himself,” says his daughter. “He was supposed to be doing the quiz the other night but he was going around collecting glasses as well.”

Food is already picking up. The Malt served 96 Sunday lunches last week and 47 Monday lunches. Age Concern has a booking for 48 people this week, which is going to be a busy one, and the opening of a new crematorium on the edge of the village is a real opportunity to cater for wakes, something the Malt already does with the village church in view.

Dancing Duck's DCUK has been the best-selling beer in the pub. (Image: Colston Crawford)

Laura has a chef, Mark Harbour, who stuck with her while the tenancy application went down its long, slow path. Now it’s all systems go, with specials changing daily and food events being put on.

“Mark’s been very loyal,” says Laura. “He’s stuck with us for six months because he knew what we were going to do and now we can do it.”

So, these are challenging, exciting times for the pub and its young landlady. She knows she’s still learning but, hey, when does anyone ever stop doing that? And as I’ve already suggested, the beer, too, is important.

“The local pub should sell local beer,” says Laura, who has brought Derby Brewing Company beer back alongside Dancing Duck. “Oh, and I want to get us back in the Good Beer Guide as well.” Well, I’ll raise a glass of DCUK to that.